A Noble Mission
by The Lone Swordswolf
Summary: A new mission. A new goal. New enemies, allies, technology, and a war not their own. As it has been said, if it were easy, it wouldn't be a Noble mission. This galaxy won't know what hit them.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I do not own ME or Halo.**

**Alright, I went back and decided to do it right this time. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

On the planes of the UNSC fortress world, Reach, the last Spartan on the planet, a Spartan III, made her final stand. Her name had been stricken from the records and some believe that not even she remembers her own name. Not even the team she was assigned to, Noble Team, knew her name. She gave a silent, tired sigh at the thought of Noble.

At first, it was just another assignment. But Noble was unlike anyone she had served with before, and for the first time that she could remember, she felt like she belonged. Don't misunderstand, the members of Noble were just as wary of her as she was them and as Carter had put it: "You're filling shoes that the others would rather leave empty." But when the Covenant showed up, well, they learned to get along.

None of this matters though. She came here after seeing the Pillar of Autumn off planet to make her stand. All of them, Jorge, the towering Spartan II with a caring heart, Kat, the XO and technician, Carter, the leader and the first to welcome her, and Emile, the CQC expert, had all died fighting. Jorge taking down a super carrier, Kat with a sniper round to the back of her head, Carter ramming his Pelican into a Scarab, and Emile taking out his killer. All except her and Jun, the teams scout and sniper. With the way they were losing, she figured Jun had already met his own end, if not then soon.

There were no more ships, no reinforcements, no one else to fight beside her. This was her moment, her glorious death on the battlefield, the inevitable fate all Spartan III's were trained for. She had fought off the waves of grunts and jackals. She had destroyed seven Wraiths and forty Banshees that tried strafing runs at her and almost twice that with Ghosts. A few times, she had tried high jacking a low flying Banshee so that she can rest a bit and kill even more of these Covenant bastards who had taken everything from her. But, she was shot down each time, and the fighting continued.

Her body was sore and tired as she continued to fight the elite of the Elites, Zealots. Her HUD had long since stopped working and her visor was now cracked in several places making it difficult for her to see. She took a moment to reach up and unclasp her helmet before taking it off. Some of the Elites were firing at her with Plasma Repeaters, so she tossed her helmet to the side. It's cracked silver faceplate staring, recording her final moments. But this didn't matter to her. She had accomplished the mission, sent humanity's hope away, and killed wave after wave of these Covenant bastards. No one would deny that she had earned her rest. But, she wasn't done yet.

She bent down and picked up a discarded assault rifle and fired at the Elites. She fired at an approaching Elite till its shields failed and it fell dead before her. Hearing footsteps from behind, she whirled around and slammed her rifle into the Zealot, bringing down its shields and sending it to the ground. She took out her pistol and shot it once in the head, making sure it won't be getting back up.

She was hit from her left by a stream of plasma fire. She turned and fired at her would be killer but, a second stream came from her right. She pulled out her pistol and began firing at both of them until one fell dead, then the other. But, as the second one fell, another Elite charged her, knocking her to the ground. It made to impale her on it's energy sword, but she kicked it off, sending it reeling back.

Another Elite, a Shipmaster, tried his hand but she punched it away, knocking its sword from its hand. The Elite from before tried once again to kill her, but she rolled to the side, dodging the blow. She gave it an elbow to the jaw, shattering its shields and causing it to fall. The Shipmaster, now recovered, projected its wrist mounted energy dagger and gave her the final blow. And with that, Noble Six, Spartan-B312, the only female Spartan and Spartan III to be given the designation hyper-lethal, died on the desolate plains of Reach.

* * *

**Unknown**

Noble Six sucked in a large gulp of air as her eyes snapped open. She took immediate stock of her surroundings only to find herself in a sea of endless white. She climbed to her feet and examined herself. To her surprise, she looked fine. Minus her missing helmet, she hadn't a scratch on her. "What?' she asked herself, voice soft in disbelief.

_ "Come this way,"_ someone said in her ear. She turned her head to see nothing. She spun in a circle to make sure no one was behind her, but she was alone. _"This way,"_ it said again. She felt a tug and her feet began moving. She tried resisting, but she didn't even slow. It wasn't long before she saw something off in the distance. At first, it was just a black speck, even with her enhanced eyesight. Though it wasn't long at her current pace before the speck gained some features. Some very familiar features.

The tugging had stopped, but her feet hadn't. In fact, she began to pick up speed. And the closer she got, the more of the object she could identify. Finally, she was in reach of it, or rather, him. Lying down on an invisible ground was the slumbering giant of Noble Team, Jorge. Six didn't know how to feel, she never was good with her emotions. Jorge was special to her in the sense that he was the one that made her open up and begin to befriend the others. And while he didn't like her filling in the past Six's shoes, he accepted her into the team. Losing Jorge was difficult for her, as was the others. It was one of the few times she was thankful for the near endless fighting. It allowed her to focus on it instead of her deceased teammates.

She didn't know how to feel at the moment. A part of her, a long forgotten part of her, wanted to cry in joy? Relief? But her training said for her to be wary. To her, she still couldn't believe he was alive. His eyes snapped open, only to close them again thanks to the light. "I didn't think slip space would be so bright," he said, bringing a hand to cover his eyes while they adjusted. His words brought Six back to the time she last saw him. When he lifted her with one hand and carried her to the edge of the corvettes hangar. "Tell them to make it count," he had told her. Did they? She wondered on that.

"Six?" he asked. She looked back down, broken from her thoughts about his sacrifice and saw him looking back up at her. His brow furrowed showing his confusion. "What are you doing here?"

She reached down and he grabbed her hand. She had to use both hands to pull him to his feet. To her, it was another difference between the II's and III's. "I think we're dead," she replied.

"Dead?!" he exclaimed, looking at her.

"I made it back down," she assured him having guessed where his thoughts were going.

"Then how?"

"Energy dagger, pierced her heart and left lung," someone said from behind. They turned and spotted a man around 6 feet in height dressed in sharp military uniform. More specifically, of a general. Both Spartans snapped to attention causing him to chuckle. "At ease." They dropped their salute into a parade rest stance.

"I won't lie to you," he said. "Both of you are indeed dead."

"Then where are we, sir?" asked Jorge.

"I'm here to offer you, specifically Noble Team, a choice," the man said, deflecting the question.

"But, sir, we're the only ones here."

"I can see that," the man said, unperturbed. There was a moment of silence before three, what seemed to be, slip-space portals appeared danger close to them. Yet, there was no pull. What was more, the portals weren't the size they should be. They were all frightfully small, about the size of a standard Warthog. When they dissipated, there on the ground were the bodies of Noble Team who had fallen in the fight. The man jerked his head from Jorge and Six towards the rest of Noble.

As the two approached, the others started to wake up from their slumber. "Oh, damn," said Emile. "Did anyone catch the license plate of the bastard who ran over me?" He brought his armored hand up to grab his head. "I'm going to need to have a serious 'chat' with 'em."

"Stuff it Emile," said Carter.

"It's good to have you back among the living," said Jorge.

That stopped all three. They looked up and spotted the two. "Jorge? Six?" Carter asked in disbelief.

"Commander?" asked Emile.

"What?" Kat for once, was at a loss for words.

"Kat!?" Carter asked, even more shocked, though you had to look closely to see it.

"Enough!" thundered the man, grabbing everyone's attention. "My apologies, but if I had let you continue, then we would be here longer than necessary, and I am an incredibly busy man."

"You said you had a choice for us?" asked Six.

The man nodded in confirmation. "I did. But, we're still short one member." Another portal opened, then disappeared, leaving the last member of Noble.

Jun, closed his eyes for a moment to adjust to the sharp brightness of the light. "Well, looks like the bands back together," Emile said.

Jun's eyes snapped open before turning around. What he saw shocked him to his core. Standing there was the deceased members of Noble. "What's going on?" he asked.

Jorge gestured over to the man standing at parade rest with a nod of his head. "He said he is offering us a choice."

The man nodded in the affirmative. "Listen well Noble as I do not like to repeat myself. I am, I suppose you could say, the watcher of this galaxy."

"Watcher?" asked Kat.

"Indeed. As you already know, there are many galaxies within the universe. Each one created by The Almighty, and each one with its own humanity."

"Wait," said Emile. "You're saying there're other humanities?"

"I believe I just said that," the man deadpanned. "While each humanity shares a similar history, up to a certain point in time, each galaxy is different from the others. Whether this is different aliens, different technology, or any other number of reasons. The Almighty is always at work. Creating, planning, or listening and watching his creations, he is always occupied. This is where I and my siblings come in."

"How many watchers are there?" asked Carter.

"As many as there are galaxies. One guardian per galaxy. Now, our duty is to ensure the survival of humanity in our chosen galaxy." Here a grimace crossed his face. "Unfortunately, we don't always succeed." He paused to let that sink in. "One of my sisters, Athame, has run into a problem. Her humanity faces extinction, and they are woefully unprepared."

"So are we," said Jun.

"Let me phrase it like this; If the Covenant had attacked Earth first, instead of Harvest, how do you think you would have reacted?" Silence was his answer. "We all know that the UNSC had hid what had happened to Harvest for the first few years in the war, so as to not cause a panic. However, if it was Earth, than everyone would have known. In my sisters universe, Earth isn't 'the heart' of her galaxy. It is a station called The Citadel."

"The vanguard of her humanities threat had already succeeded in striking 'the heart' of galactic society. And yet, The Council, the races that govern everyone else, has written it off as a one time thing to be ignored. They haven't upped their defenses only their security, and have denied anything to do with the actual threat! Even humanity is doing their best to shove the whole incident under the rug, so to speak." He paused for a few seconds to get himself together from his rant. "Except for a few 'key' figures."

"That still doesn't explain why we are here…sir," Carter said.

"Occasionally, if we deem our humanity has little hope of being saved, we will ask one of our siblings to see if they could 'lend' us a few of their 'heroes' to pull our humanity out of the situation they are in."

"Sorry, sir," Emile said. "But, you're talking to the wrong people."

"I know exactly who I am talking to Noble Four. My sister doesn't need a hero or some icon that humanity could look up to, she needs soldiers who can get the job done."

"Why us?" asked Jorge. "Surely there're others who would be more suited for this."

"Jorge, I know you mean you're fallen brothers and sisters, but I wouldn't have called on you if I didn't believe you were best suited for the job. Now, before I send you all on your way, there are a few rules you need to abide by."

"One, under no circumstances are you to allow anyone from my sisters galaxy to get a hold or even a thorough scan of your armor. If one of you falls, destroy the armor, no exceptions! Two, you cannot tell anyone that you are from a different galaxy, nor that my siblings and I exist. Three, make sure my sisters 'hero'-a woman named Shepherd-survives."

"Noble, this is your mission should you choose to accept. Ensure Shepherd survives to make one of four choices that will forever affect my sisters galaxy. 1) Destroy the threat. This shall wipe out all 'synthetic' life in the galaxy. People who have robotic limbs, enhancements, and biotics can and will be affected. 2) Sacrifice their body to become one with the enemies conscience which will allow them to take control and lead them away. However, there is no guarantee that they may eventually decide that continuing the attack would be the better option. 3) Sacrifice themselves so that everything becomes…equal. Every thing in their galaxy will be both synthetic and organic. It will halt evolution completely. Whether they know it or not, this is a death sentence for all life because life is to continually evolve. 4) The second most idiotic choice, do nothing. Let the enemy continue and pray they can hold out."

"In all actuality, the only viable option is the first one. My sister wants her chosen champion to have the ability to decide. I want you to make the choice beforehand. If you are able to find a way, make an option five. But if you can't, make sure Shepherd chooses option one."

"And what if we say no?" asked Kat.

"Nothing. You've already lived your lives, except Jun who has yet to die. If you say no, then for all except Jun shall pass on while Jun is returned right where I took him with all knowledge from here erased."

"Sir, if you know everything in your galaxy, did you know what would happen when we met the Covenant?" asked Jorge.

"I knew about the Covenant, and I knew that humanity would one day meet them. However, the ability to decide is a powerful thing and not everyone chooses what I expect them to. Let me tell you this, The Prophets had learned something that shook them to their core. They did and are doing everything in their power to make sure this knowledge remains secret. That is why they ordered humanities destruction."

"They killed billions just for a secret?" asked Jun, outraged.

"What was it?" asked Kat.

"That is something humanity will have to learn on its own," the man said, voice low.

"How 'bout you tell us right now?" said Emile.

"To what end? If you choose not to take this mission then the knowledge would do you no good. And if you take the mission, you'll be going to a galaxy where it won't matter. Even if I did, what's to stop me from just erasing it from your memory?" This gave them all pause. What he said was true and there is nothing they could do to stop him. "So, what's your choice?"

The team by near reflex turned towards Carter for his decision. He brought up his hand to rub at his brow, showing the strain being in command gives him. "I can't make this decision alone," he said. "This isn't just another mission from the UNSC or ONI. We're not fighting the Covenant. We were never trained for this and for the first time since basic, I don't know what to expect."

Spartans, for all their enhancements and training, are still at their core, human. And while humanity has always been curious about what they did not know, humanity has also feared the unknown. Noble now had a choice to make and if they chose to accept, they would be facing an unknown amount of unknowns. More over, they would be practically on their own. They would no longer have the UNSC for reinforcements, evac, funding, or supplies. But, at the same time…

"I don't know," said Jun. "What do we get in return for this?"

"Simple," the man replied. "Accomplish the mission and I will send all of Noble onto _The Pillar of Autumn_. Also, my sister may send you requests every now and then. Do these and you will be rewarded."

"How so?" asked Emile.

"Would the location of _The Spirit of Fire_ be worth a few requests?" Silence. "How about _The Everest_? The location of Grey Team? Stop me if I'm getting warm."

"You mean," began Jorge, "you could tell us where Red Team is? And Admiral Cole?"

"As I said, I watch over this galaxy. While I don't know what runs through your heads, I do know what someone says and where something is. All your brothers and sisters who are MIA can be found."

"I'm in," Jorge said. "If I have the chance to find them, I'll take it."

"I watched the Covenant destroy my home," said Carter. "If I have the chance to prevent others from seeing everything being destroyed around them, I'll take it. I'm in."

"You won't get far without me," Jun smirked. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you face any opposition."

"Heh, a chance to get back to gutting the split-lips? You know I'm taking it," Emile stated. "Plus whole new aliens to terrorize, how could I say no?"

"If all of you were left alone, nothing would get accomplished," Kat said. "So, yeah, I guess I'm in to. Someone has to keep their head on straight."

Six was silent for a moment, looking at her team, the only people she felt she actually belonged with before replying. "Impossible odds, no knowledge of our opposition, and mankind on the brink of extinction. Why does this remind me of basic? You can count on me, sir."

The watcher nodded his head, hiding the smile that wanted to split his face. He knew he chose wisely. "Alright Noble. My sister wanted me to send you to the planet called Anov III. Before you go, your helmets." He snapped his fingers and their helmets appeared before them. "And while I cannot permit you to take any of your weapons with you, you'll learn soon enough, here are your knives." Another snap of his fingers and their knives appeared in their sheaths.

Emile grabbed his kukri and brought it out. "Oh, my baby. Did you miss me. Don't worry, you'll be gutting all kinds of new aliens." If they were normal soldiers, Noble would have been freaked out by his behavior. However, Jun did the same with his sniper, Kat with her data pad, and Jorge (although not as badly) with his turret. The only thing Carter 'obsessed' over was his armor, but all Spartans did that. As for Six, well, she never had the time to repeatedly use a weapon to begin obsessing over. Although she liked the DMR.

"You'll find all the information to get you started groundside. Good luck Spartans." With that, the Watcher snapped his fingers and the team was enveloped by that slip-space anomaly and were gone.

* * *

**AN: How'd you like the new version? Someone had said to change the name of, well I guess we could call it Limbo, as it was originally The Afterlife. However, Afterlife is the name of a bar in ME. Also note that I didn't put down Six's name this time. Reason for this is I felt that Cana just didn't suit her. If you have a good idea for her name let me know in the reviews or by PMing me. **

**So, did you like this new version? Hate it? What do you think could I have done different/better. Let me know and I will hear from you in the next chapter. G'night!**


	2. Welcome to Mass Effect

**AN: I do not own either of these franchises.**

**Sorry about the delay. After reading through my first go round with this chapter, I was horrified. It was rushed and absolutely no thought put into it. So, I went back and rewrote it. I hope you enjoy the new updated version.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Anov III**

**Codex Entry**

Anov III is a small colony barely a decade old located well into the Terminus Systems. Discovered completely by accident during a manhunt for a batarian slaver/pirate ship, it is left relatively alone. Considering it does not have a nearby mass relay of its own, one would have to use conventional FTL drives to reach it, marking in at over 3 day flight. With such a distance, almost all pirates, slavers, smugglers, and criminals alike consider it both to costly and not worth the effort to set up shop. With little fear of a pirate/slaver attack, the colonies citizens live their lives in peace.

* * *

**South of Main City**

An anomaly occurred on the lush, verdant plains of the planet. Six swirling…spheres(?) that seem similar to old depictions of wormholes came into being. As quick as they came, they disappeared leaving Noble Team lying on the ground. "Ugh." One by one, each member climbed to their feet. "Everyone alright?" asked Carter.

"All good here," replied Emile.

"Status green, sir," Jun replied, his eyes already checking their surroundings for possible incoming hostiles. "No sign we've been detected."

"Need to work out a few kinks, but I'll be fine," commented Jorge stretching.

"Just need a weapon," Six said, getting smiles from some of them.

After a few minutes of silence, Carter turned towards his second in command. "Kat? Everything alright?" he asked tentatively. She always had something to say. Her silence unnerved him though only fellow Spartan's would be able to tell. She stood facing away from him with her arms seeming as if they were holding something so that she could examine it. "Find something?"

"Sir, it's gone. I mean, it's back," she said, her voice sounding off. She turned and showed him her right arm. It took him a second to realize what she was getting at. Her prosthetic was gone, and in its place was her arm. The same arm lost when they both lost Thom. There were two reasons why she had a prosthetic. One was because due to her augmentations creating a flash cloned replacement just isn't possible. A slow grown cloned arm is possible but far to time consuming. The second is that it served as a constant reminder of how she failed to save a member of their family. A shame only she and Carter bore.

Carter walked up to her and placed his arms on her shoulders. He took one hand off her and gave her a Spartan smile. She hesitated for half a second before responding. He nodded and let go. Comforting wasn't a Spartan's forte, and that's as close as most get, but to them, it meant a whole lot more. "Alright people, we're in unknown territory with unknown people. We don't know what to expect as for all we know we could've ended up on an alien occupied planet."

"What do we do if it is aliens?" asked Emile.

"Human or alien, take 'em out. We need intel and until we get it no one can know we're here."

"Even civilians sir?" asked Jorge.

Carter was silent for a moment. They've never killed civilians before and to do so seemed as if he was betraying his oath. "If you can, knock 'em out and hide them. If not then do what needs to be done. Any other questions?"

"So, we're stranded in another galaxy, to help the hero make it to the end, save this humanity, and Kat's got her arm back," Emile summarized. "Do you think he left out any other surprises?"

Six, who had been standing to the side chuckled lightly. The subtle shaking of her shoulders caused something on her back to shift. Surprised she craned her neck around to see what she had on her back. To her surprise and delight, she was carrying a jetpack. "Sir," she called out, "It would seem the Watcher left us something." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder to her jetpack.

"Well, what do ya know," Emile said.

"Wait, I don't have one," Jun said, looking over his shoulder. He then turned a critical eye on the others. "It seems only Six gets the jetpack." He didn't show it, but he was disgruntled that Six got something while they didn't.

Jorge, who had been examining his own armor, found something. "What's this," he questioned. He pressed it and a blue field surrounded him.

"A drop shield," Carter observed. That would prove useful for later as Jorge being their heaviest hitter and the biggest out of all of them would draw more enemy fire than the others.

Jun started to more closely examine his armor for whatever might be there. His wandering hand, sooner than he thought, found something and he let out a surprised yelp. Before his and everyone's eyes, he turned invisible. Slowly, he started to chuckle. "Oh ho ho ho, I've been wanting to get my hands on one of these for a while now."

Carter was next as he clenched his fist and hit a button on his hand. An image of him sprang forward and ran where he was facing till it dissipated from running out of energy. "Ha, sucks to be you boss man," Emile said.

Carter sighed. If he was following this correctly and each of them got one ability, then that means…Emile interrupted his train of thought by slamming his fist on the ground. His shields become so strong, they became visible. Emile was cackling with glee as he loved this armor ability the most. Wait, if they all got a different one, then what did Kat get? He turned to her, only to find her with her data pad out and scrolling through it. "Anything to add?" he asked.

"I may not have been given an armor ability, commander, but my data pad more than makes up for it. Hmm, seems to have been upgraded. Just need to, and then, there we go."

"Kat?"

"While the rest of you were gawking at your equipment, I was locating and hacking a nearby satellite." Here she gave a derisive snort. "It had no defenses to speak of. It's like these people don't understand cyber warfare. Other than that, I can safely say that this is a human colony."

"Why do you say that?" asked Jorge.

"Well, unless all aliens have adopted the human language, then this is definitely a human colony. And with that, I now have access to a map. According to this, the main city thus the nearest spaceport, and the closest piece of civilization, is a couple dozen miles North of here."

"Can you tell us about any military presence? Garrison locations? Ships?"

"Let's see. There's no information about any garrison on the planet, but there is a report that shows a routine patrol passes through here once every two weeks."

"Every two _weeks_?" questioned Six.

"Sounds like the UEG all over again," Jorge said beneath his breath.

"When's the patrol supposed to be back?" asked Carter.

"Three days."

"Alright, people. We have three days till the patrol comes back again. That means we have under two to get to the city, infiltrate it, gather intel, acquire passage off planet, all without being detected."

"It's basic all over again," remarked Jun.

"Let's move."

**1 Hour Later**

Jun laid on a hill nearby the city's outskirts in the shade of an overhanging tree. Considering there wasn't any sentry towers to provide overwatch, he didn't need to worry about being spotted by an enemy sniper. However, that doesn't mean that a lookout wasn't within one of the nearby windows, thus the tree. However, there was something wrong and painfully obvious with the place. It was far to quiet. No vehicles driving around the streets. No passerby's walking to a fro from home to or work and back again. Not even the sounds from animals. Frowning, he crawled backwards until he was hidden from sight before activating his comms. "Noble, this is Noble 3 reporting in."

"What do you have for us?" asked Carter. Just in case someone managed to hack their comms to listen in, they would go by their designations.

"Sir, it's completely quiet. No traffic, no noise, no movement. The place is utterly dead."

"Ok. Proceed wit insertion, but keep low and stay hidden. We don't know what defenses they may have or what weapons they use."

"Roger, I'll keep you posted." Jun activated his camouflage and steadily made his way to the city. The problem with the active camouflage is that if you moved to fast, then you became somewhat visible. Thankfully, The charge on it lasted nearly twice as long as it normally did, probably another gift from the Watcher, so he didn't have to stop as many times as he normally did. Though when he did have to wait for it to recharge, he just hid among some bushes or behind some sheds when he got really close.

When he reached the outer edge, he decided his best bet to remain undetected would be to hop through the backyards of the nearby housing. As he made his way deeper, his frown increased. There was nothing. Not even bodies and that disturbed him. If the colony was attacked then there should be bodies, more civilian than anything. On a hunch, he checked inside a house to find the table set with food and drink. His thermal showed that the food was cold and the drinks were room temperature. It was like everyone got up and left and quite a while ago apparently.

It was ten minutes later that he was near the center of the city. And in that time he hadn't detected anything, not even the scurrying of mice. "Noble One, I'm at the center."

"Anything?"

"There's nothing sir. No people. No animals. No _bodies_. I even checked a few houses. It's like everyone got up and left."

"Copy that. We're on our way."

"Should I prepare some coffee?" Jun joked. His comm went silent in response. He chuckled and moved to a nearby house. Despite everything, he hadn't eaten, his team maybe longer, in days. And with all this food nearby, why would he let it go to waste?

It wasn't long till the rest arrived, not having to sneak in like he did, and he just finished the final touches on the sixth sandwich. In all honesty, it wasn't extravagant. Just two pieces of bread with a few slices of whatever meat was in the fridge and a bit of mustard, but to the team, looked like the most appetizing thing in the world. "You spent your time making sandwiches?" asked Carter, faint amusement in his voice.

"I thought you were preparing coffee," Emile remarked, already reaching up to remove his helmet so he can eat.

"Couldn't find any," replied Jun. The team ate quickly, eating their sandwiches with a maximum of five bites before getting down to business.

"I don't like this," Jorge said. "It's like the entire colony just vanished. Even if this was an evacuation, why were they?"

"Kat, when was the last recorded transmission?" Carter asked.

"Let's see." She brought up her data pad and started to scroll through it, her fingers flying over it. "Seems last transmission was yesterday at about 1545 hours. Playing it."

"We need help-_static_-out of nowhere! Please send-_static_."

"It cuts out there."

"Yeah, that didn't sound ominous," Jun said.

"So they were attacked," Jorge whispered to himself, but they all heard him. A bit louder, he replied, "Did you manage to get any visual?"

"Nope. Seems whoever did this stopped all recordings and transmissions."

"Sir, do you think this is what the Watcher was talking about?" asked Six.

"Most likely," he said. They were in unknown territory after an attack by unknown assailants with a patrol arriving in a few days. "Kat, I want you to find as much information as possible."

"About what," she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Start with the basics. According to the Watcher, humanity has already made contact with aliens. Find out what they are, what they look like, and any weaknesses of note. Humanities status, territories, ships, etc. Also find out what weapons and armor they use. I'd rather not get in a firefight without some information about what's being used against us. Also find any information you can on this Shepherd. After that, whatever you think can best give us an edge."

"Got it." She went back to her data pad to browse through the wealth of information held within the satellites.

"Jun, you and Six will find the spaceport and figure out how to pilot one. Emile, if this place didn't have a garrison, then they must have had a police force. Find their HQ and their armory. Jorge, we're going to need supplies. You and I will scout for any storages nearby and a few of the houses. Never know what the civvies might keep."

"Sir," Jun said, putting his helmet back on with Six following him out the door. Emile gave a thumbs up before heading off to search for the police HQ, and with no knowledge on where it was, he was going to search every building. Jorge sealed his helmet and stepped outside to wait for Carter.

"Kat," he said. "About Reach-"

"I should have seen it coming," she interrupted, setting down her pad. "I just can't believe I was taken out so easily. Some Spartan I am."

"Kat," he tried once again.

"We need those supplies commander, and I can't download the information while talking." They both knew the last one was a lie, but he accepted that now wasn't the best time. He slid his helmet on and left her to her business.

"Are you alright sir?" asked Jorge, falling in step behind him.

"Just trying to cope with everything that's happened." Jorge nodded and they continued on their way.

**Later**

The team had gathered back in the house Kat was left in. Jorge and Carter were able to discover a market and while the colony was attacked, the power supply was unaffected leaving all produce relatively fresh. Gathering an assortment of essentials such as bread, dairy, meat, and fruits and vegetables although they left alone the ones they were unfamiliar with. All together, with some good rationing, they had enough to last them 3 months, provided several items didn't rot or spoil. One good thing about MRE's is that they last a hell of a lot longer than normal food.

Jun and Six had found the spaceport, but what they found was disappointing. Apparently, the largest ship was about equal in size to a UNSC Prowler. Either the bigger ships were gone beforehand or destroyed in the attack. More likely the former seeing as there were no debris. Then again, that worked in their favor as Six could fly a Prowler by herself unless in a combat scenario. Accessing the ship itself was easy as well, though the holographic interface was weird. However, the main problem laid in the fact that the controls were extremely different from that of the UNSC. So, she had spent the majority of her time pouring over the controls and figuring out what did what while Jun explored the rest of the shipyard.

Emile eventually broke into the police HQ and the meant he literally broke in. Apparently there was a lock on the door and instead of calling Kat to come help, he backed up a few steps and charged through the nearby door. He was fortunate that it wasn't heavily built as the door was only a few cm of steel, a hollow light wooden door to a Spartan. He did find the armory thanks to the sign above the door (poor planning if you need a sign) and was confused by their armaments. In his defense, they were only metal rectangular blocks when he found them. It was only when he picked them up did they-literally-unfold. Based on their look and a couple test fires, he found only fully automated assault rifles and a few light pistols. And it as only when he held the trigger down on a rifle did he find out about the overheat system, something that was uncomfortably close to some Covenant weaponry.

Finally, Kat had managed to learn quite a lot about the galaxy they were now in. Such as the Citadel races, and what they looked like. The Asari threw them all off and learning about their ability to breed with basically anything, not to mention the telepathy, caused them all to be greatly concerned. Obviously, if any of them were to be captured by an asari, then that…_thing_ could learn everything they know. Next was the First Contact War, hardly a slap on the wrist compared to what was the result of First Contact with the Covenant. Biotics, which raised several disbelieving eyebrows, Eezo, so on and so forth.

Carter sat back in his chair, the piece of furniture creaking under his weight. "So, humanity and everyone's technology all revolve around this Element Zero?" he said, not believing the words himself.

"Sounds pretty idiotic, basing everything you make on one type of technology," Jun scoffed in reply. Yes, the UNSC main streamed 'kinetic' weapons, but it had various branches in other fields, mostly due to the Covenant's captured weapons and vehicles, but that's not his point. The point is, it's plain idiotic for every species to operate from the same technology with little to no discrepancies. Moreover, how all technology is only reverse engineered from artifacts and ruins by these 'Protheans'. The UNSC didn't need ancient alien technology to spread across the stars, they did it on their own.

"Not to mention on the defenses," Emile exclaimed. "No ship over one and a half kilometers and no ODP's. I don't know what's worse. No ODST's or no actual garrison besides 'volunteers'." And don't get him started on their colonization. Have they never heard of terraforming? Mars is still a lifeless red rock for Christ's sake. It's why the UNSC had so many planets! As long as the planet was in the 'life belt', they terraformed it, and colonized it.

"It's the UEG all over again," Jorge rumbled in distaste. And in a certain way, it was true. The Alliance was expanding to damn fast. They don't even set up defenses in case of an attack, and considering quite a few new colonies are in the 'Terminus Systems', in rough translation a lawless expanse of space, it is a very idiotic move to make. The UEG could be excused because initially all they needed to worry about was the Insurrection, but the Alliance knew of the potential dangers and still didn't give the colonies more than two sticks and a rock to defend themselves.

"So, wait," interrupted Six, "that Prowler sized ship we found-"

"Is actually a light frigate," finished Kat. To say Six was disappointed in this galaxies ship capabilities would be putting it mildly. One kilometer is a dreadnaught (hah!), their version of a MAC only does half the damage a UNSC frigate does, and worst-in her opinion-all ships were designed with aesthetics in mind! If what she gleaned from the Prowler-frigate!-sized ship, there is a lot of wasted space. Space that could have gone to extra weapons lockers or sensor stations.

"Does no one understand war?" she asked. The UNSC's ships have always been blocky and utilitarian in design because in war, there was no real room for aesthetics. The war against the Insurrection made it that all space was maximized and the war against the Covenant made it so you could operate the same with less. Building ships takes time, even if it is at most 2 months, that is 2 months that multiple attacks occur in and more ships are destroyed. If there is one thing the UNSC has become a master of over these long bloody years, is how to maximize what you have to the fullest effect for no other reason than they had to. "Give me all information you have on how to pilot these ships," she said with a sigh.

Kat brought up all information she had on the ships and how to pilot them and handed her data pad over. Six took it and headed off towards the spaceport knowing she had to have a rough handle on the ship by noon tomorrow. "So, anything else we should know?" he asked.

"Actually, there's one thing," she began. "Their called omni-tools. They are handheld devices that combine a computer microframe, sensor analysis pack, and minifacturing fabricator. Its main purpose is a portable computer that everyone has. It was stated that those capable could use it for hacking, decrypting, or repair of certain items."

"Wait," Jun interrupted, "there is a tool that can access any computer or terminal, and break through any firewall, and _everyone_ has it?" Even if he was wearing his helmet, you would be able to see the pure disbelief on his face. That is the single biggest security risk he has ever heard of short of genocidal aliens. "Please tell me they have advanced counter measures."

"For them, sure," she replied.

"Why does it seem like everything's so downgraded?"

"This galaxy has been at a relative peace for decades, and not counting the 'First Contact War', then centuries. They aren't prepared for a full scale war simply because they've never needed to be."

"That makes sense," Jorge said. "If it's anything like the UEG, then the Council will want irrefutable proof of the threat before acting."

"Why?" asked Emile, confused on why Jorge would compare these aliens to humanity back home.

"One word: politics. I forget sometimes on how old you really are. From the history lessons I received back in basic, man has always believed that there was intelligent life out there, but never had any proof, and back when the UNSC was still controlled by the UEG, that's what the politicians needed, proof. They weren't willing to shell out the resources and funding for a threat they didn't believe in. It was only after Harvest, when the Covenant started its galactic genocidal campaign against humanity, did anything really start happening, but it was still slow going. Governments, especially democracy's are controlled by a set of checks and balances, however in times of war and strife that often works against them. And now we are facing an enemy I never thought we would, a government and we don't have any tangible proof to help us. We don't even know what the threat is!"

"Actually, I think I might," Kat said. "During my search for Shepard, I found that she participated in the 'Battle of the Citadel', the location of their government. Apparently, a synthetic race known as the Geth had attacked the Citadel in masse led by an 'extremely large dreadnaught' at 2 kilometers in length."

"So a standard cruiser," Carter said.

"Basically. From 'speculation', they say that the ship was in actuality a Reaper."

"And what is a reaper?" questioned Emile.

"Like I said, there's only speculations and conspiracy theories, but if it is to be believed, the Reapers are a race of AI's that control a ship and 'harvest' all organic life every 50,000 years or so. In fact, it is said that the Reapers were responsible for the extinction of the Protheans, the race who came before the Council races and built everything from the Citadel to the Mass Relays."

"Somehow, I think it's going to be a long night," Carter muttered.

"Not really, commander. I could spend the next 12 hours explaining everything, but there might be a quicker way. Remember the omni-tools I mentioned? All the information I mentioned plus more is on those tools. And it just so happens that all police HQ's should have a decent supply in case of emergencies. We get ahold of those, and we can expand our search."

"Right. Emile, take Kat to the police HQ and acquire those omni-tools. Get some weapons and ammo while you're at it. Meanwhile, Jun, Jorge, we will start loading the supplies onto the ship. Let's go." Everyone nodded and went about their assigned tasks. One thing's for certain, no matter what happens from here on out, it certainly promises to be interesting.

* * *

**AN: A lot of talking going on in this chapter and no action, but that's to be expected. Now, for any interested, Noble has essentially arrived two months before Shepard's escape from the Lazarus facility. That should be enough time for them to get a grasp on this new galaxy they find themselves in. Also, I hope you enjoyed their reactions to the ME standard stuff. Now this isn't me trying to say the UNSC is so much better. You have to remember that they literally grew up in the UNSC, they are used to things happening at a certain pace. They are not acquainted with the due process that comes with governments. **

**Next chapter will be a timeskip to ME , so stick around and review your thoughts.**


	3. Freedom's Progress

**AN: Neither of these franchises belong to me. I just play the games.**

**Yeah, so...hi. Been a long time since I've updated. I honestly blame getting the Xbox 1. Spent so much time on it, completely forgot about everything else. This is a short chapter, but it's just to help get the ball rolling. So I hope you enjoy this little taste of what's more to come.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Freedom's Progress**

Commander Victoria Shepard was currently wondering if she should've just stayed dead as she leaned against a wall as gunfire from the YMIR mech shot where she was standing a few seconds ago. Ever since she fully came to, it's been a fight to some startling revelation then back to fighting. She has barely had anytime to sit down, let alone rest. The best thing to happen to her recently was that she ran into her old friend Tali Zorah, a Quarian and damn good expert with hacking and her shotgun. Apparently, Tali was leading a team here to recover another quarian who had been on his pilgrimage. There was a bit of a misunderstanding at first, considering she was with two members of an extreme pro-human terrorist organization, Cerberus, but it was settled in the end. Or at least, they thought it was settled. Unfortunately, a team leader that was under Tali's command went fuck all and rushed ahead, only to get him and those trying to catch up pinned down/slaughtered by some heavy mechs.

Unfortunately, Cerberus seemed to have spent so much on rebuilding her (how she shuddered at the mere thought), that they skimped on giving them decent guns! Now, she wouldn't have expected something like the Specter HMW series weapons, though she didn't doubt that they had some in stock, but perhaps something better than the standard issue crap. The only saving grace she had was the grenade launcher in her hands. But damn if the heavy mechs weren't tough and she couldn't get a proper bead on them. Worse, Jacob, a former Alliance soldier who left for Cerberus when the Alliance refused to do anything about the Reaper threat, was wounded and pinned down behind a pair of large crates which probably wouldn't stand long against the missiles the heavy's carried.

"Shepard!" Tali shouted over the radio. "We need you to take out those YMIR mechs."

"I know," she yelled back, slightly frustrated. "Miranda! Can you create a distraction?"

"I'm slightly preoccupied Shepard." Even in a firefight, the woman sounded as calm and collected as usual. One of the YMIR's fired a rocket near where Shepard stood. While receiving little in terms of actual damage, she was still knocked to the ground and the grenade launcher fell from her grasp. Now in plain sight, the mechs started to lock on to her. Before she could scramble for cover or for the mechs to open fire, several concussive shots rang out, piercing the YMIR's tough hide. It fell down dead before self-destructing.

"Shepard, I'm glad you're ok, but next time, can your back-up arrive a little bit earlier." You could feel the relief in Tali's voice over the radio.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Maybe next time." Meanwhile Victoria was absolutely stunned. She had initially believed it was some more of Tali's team, but apparently, that's not the case. "Miranda, any idea who our backup is?"

"Not a clue, Shepard. There shouldn't have been anyone here in the first place."

"Well, whoever they are, I guess I owe them," she muttered, looking over as Miranda was tending to Jacob. She reached down and picked up her grenade launcher before strapping it to her back. "How is he?" she asked as she approached Miranda.

"He's lucky," Miranda said, still acting like a cold ice queen even though her hands were slightly shaking. "A few punctures and a broken rib are the worst of it."

"That's better than what I expected," Victoria replied. Jacob had been thrown by a YMIR. That had to have hit him with the force of a Mako and he's walking away with only a broken rib! She was somewhat impressed.

"Well, guess someone's lucky," a person said behind her. She whirled around, hand on her pistol, Miranda standing behind her, biotics flaring around her hands. Standing there with what had to be the biggest sniper rifle she has seen was what at first glance to be a new type of mech. However, the way he carried himself and from what he just said proved otherwise.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

He ignored her as his helmet swept from side to side taking in the destruction. He brought one hand up to the side of his helmet, either receiving orders or calling someone in. "Noble," he said in a Slavic accent, "area's clear. We got some straggler's though." He paused for a moment before nodding. "Alright, but be prepared, they don't seem to like new faces."

"I say again, who are you?" she asked with more force. His helmet looked at her, but she couldn't be sure that he was as it was polarized. His head tilted as if to regard her more fully. But whatever he was about to do or say was stopped when there were a series of thuds around her. She looked around and saw several more, two with what she assumed were more effeminate figures.

A blue one approached her, guns resting on his back. He was either very confident in both his teammates and himself or he was an arrogant prick. If this turned violent, she hoped it was the latter. "Ma'am, calm down. We're not here to hurt you." His voice was strong and carried an air of authority to it.

"I just got out of a firefight and one of my men is injured, forgive me if I'm a little uncooperative."

"And this is why I don't like civilians," muttered one of them.

"_Excuse _me?" she snapped.

"Easy ma'am," the blue one continued. "We're just here to find out what happened to the colony."

"So are we." She took a breath to steady herself. She can get through this without losing her temper on some jackass. "Our mission is to find out what happened here. If yours is the same, we could work together-" She held up her hand when the green one inclined his head at her "-but I still want to know who you are."

The blue one jerked his head at the others. The red/orange giant and smaller black one shifted their weight a little, the lighter blue (cobalt?) started shaking its (her?) head, the white one with a skull engraved on his helmet took a step forward before stepping back and nodded, while the green one didn't move. If they weren't using a private frequency she'd eat her boots. Finally the blue one turned back to her. "I'm Noble One." He then pointed behind him to the lighter blue. "That's Noble Two." His hand pointed at the green one. "Noble Three." Over at the one with the skull faceplate. "Noble Four." Then he pointed at the giant. "Noble Five." And finally the last one. "Noble Six."

"Those are designations," she countered.

"We try not to give out our names to strangers," Noble Three said.

Shepard blinked. She's never gotten that response before. Sure, according to Miranda, she's been dead-_comatose_-2 years, but she was the literal poster child for Alliance recruiting dating all the way back to when she repelled those pirates on Elysium. For someone not to know her-just weird.

She shook her head. "This is the weirdest day anyone has ever lived through," she mumbled to herself. "Right, then," she continued, louder, "I'm Commander Victoria Shepard." She didn't see them stiffening, moving, nothing! There was something off, she could tell. But, what? "These are my _squad mates _Jacob and Miranda."

"Commander Shepard," said Noble Two, "we heard you were dead."

"I got better," she let out. _'Perhaps I hung around Joker too much.'_ One of them snorted in response. "We are getting off track. Not that I'm ungrateful, but no one's supposed to have known about this for a while longer."

"No offense, commander," Noble Two said, "but we've been keeping our eyes open for any colony going dark. We were on our way before Cerberus even realized it."

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad for the assistance. But how could you tell-"

"-you work for Cerberus?" interrupted Noble Two. "They aren't exactly subtle with their color scheme."

"Shepard," whispered Miranda, "this is the illustrious Noble Team. They appeared not that long ago but have long since been upsetting the balance of power, especially in the Terminus. Taking out entire underground operations, destroying slaver rings, and making off with highly advanced and illegal equipment. We've had our eyes on them for awhile. Problem is, they are ne'er impossible to get ahold of."

"Seems our reputation proceeds us Commander," Noble Three remarked, startling the two.

"Look, whatever you've done, that's neither here nor there. There's a quarian here who most likely knows what happened. I'd be willing to let some of you come with to ask a few questions."

"Shepard," hissed Miranda, only for Shepard to hold up her hand.

"No, Miranda. They helped us, it's only fair to return the favor."

"If what you say is true," Noble One started, "then we accept. Noble Two, you're with me. Everyone else, you know what to do."

"Right, sir," rumbled the giant Noble Five. He and Noble Six walked over to a building before jumping on top of it, then hurling themselves over the nearest wall. Noble Three walked over to the wounded quarians, while Noble Four started to rummage around the remains of the YMIR.

Shepard, Miranda, and the two members of Noble Team entered the warehouse were she hoped to find Veetor. The first they see is the multitude of screens, showing surveillance videos, with Veetor talking to himself. "Monsters coming back," he mumbled. "Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no."

"Veetor,?" she asked.

"No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide."

She looked back shrugging. Honestly, she's seen soldiers in shock after their first battle, but this was something else. "Nobody's going to hurt you anymore," she said as comfortingly as possible.

"It's no use Shepard," Noble Two said. "He's clearly too deep in shock." Shepard activated her omni-tool and waved it, closing off all surveillance feed. As Veetor turned around and began to talk with Shepard, Carter and Kat were talking via short wave, high pitched radio, that normal equipment doesn't pick up.

"Do you think we'll get anything out of him?" asked Carter.

"No. His shock is still too prevalent. Trying to probe to deep could cause him to revert back to his nervous state. We'll have better luck with the security feed. That is, if Shepard didn't accidentally wipe the memory." On cue, Veetor turned and brought the monitors back up with video footage of whatever was taking the colonists. Carter and Kat tensed slightly. It wasn't much, but it gave them a clear target. They continued listening until another quarian (Tali) came in and started arguing over what to do with the traumatized. They silently slipped outside not wanting to get caught up in the argument.

Not long after, the two quarians left together with Shepard and her partner walking out. The other one continued walking while Shepard stopped to talk with them. However, Kat beat her to it. "Shepard, if you are who you say you are, then here," she handed over a small data chip. "That, when activated, releases a pulse that only we can track."

Here, Carter took over. "Believe it or not, but we were hired to help you out."

"Hired?" asked Victoria. "I'm pretty sure everyone believed I was dead. Except for those in Cerberus."

"Our employer is not affiliated with Cerberus in anyway, of that you can be sure."

"It's a one time thing Shepard," finished up Kat. "We're not about to force you to allow us to help. Doesn't make for a friendly environment. When you decide you need us, just activate it. We'll come find you. Just make sure you're in no hurry. Wouldn't want to arrive with no one in sight."

"I'll keep that in mind," Shepard replied awkwardly, putting it away in a side pouch.

"Until then," Carter said.

"Shepard," finished Kat. They both turned and walked to the nearest building before jumping onto it, then over the wall, their teammates from before having already left. Shepard gave one last, troubled look at her pouch before moving to help Miranda help Jacob to the shuttle.

* * *

**AN: I had to rewrite the beginning interaction between Shepard and Noble several times, because I just couldn't get it to feel right. Anyway, how'd you enjoy it? Was the interaction crappy, decent? Do I need to work on the fight sequences more? Leave your comments in the review, and you''' here from me next time. **


End file.
